A few years ago, my husband and I spent two lovely weeks on safari in Kenya and Tanzania.  The experience was truly surreal and I felt like I was starring in my own wildlife documentary! David Attenborough eat your heart out! We were literally immersed into nature and got an amazing up close first hand look at wildlife.  The whole trip was incredible and I still consider it one of the best trips I’ve ever taken.  To top it off, we decided to spend the last four days of the trip on the island of Zanzibar, a small semi-autonomous area off the east coast of Tanzania.

As a child, hearing people talk of Zanzibar conjured up images of white sandy beaches, palm trees, old-world charm and lots of spice markets. Once we landed, I was happy to note that the images from my childhood were pretty accurate. We stayed at the historic Zanzibar Serena Inn which was the epitome of tranquility…something that was much needed after spending two weeks in a jeep.  Zanzibar had many settlers in the past that included communities from the Middle East and India and remains pretty diverse even today. When we got there the influences were evident, especially in Stone Town which is the historic old quarter of the capital Zanzibar City.  Houses had carved indian doors (similar to those found in Rajasthan) lining the narrow streets. The architecture of the old palaces and forts was stunning and I’m thankful that Stone Town has been declared a World Heritage Site to help preserve these magnificent structures.

Here are a few pictures of our trip that I dug up.  Hope you enjoy them!

I’m not hugely adventurous when it comes to trying bizarre foods, and perhaps that has to do with the fact that I grew up in a vegetarian household.  My parents were very open-minded however, considering their strict vegetarian upbringing. They introduced meat to my sister and I, when we moved to Singapore with the hopes of integrating us into Singaporean culture easily, which boasts an amazing cuisine heavy on meat and seafood.

I love Japanese food, and here in the US, I’ve had the advantage of being able to read menus to decipher what I’m eating. But naturally, in Japan, that was a bit of a challenge. Most restaurants as expected, did not have English menus, so I was left with the choice of either only ordering something safe, like rice or noodles, or just randomly pointing at something in a menu, and prayed that it looked edible when it arrived. I chose the safe route, for the most part. That is, until my Japanese friends took me out for some REAL Japanese food!

I was asked if I wanted to have sushi or go for fugu. Yes, fugu – the puffer fish with the poison sac, where you could die if the chef wasn’t licensed and prepared the fish incorrectly.  Yes, THAT fugu! We were at a pub and I had already finished a second pint of beer.  Now, I knew what fugu was, and my first reaction was to say “NO WAY”.  But somehow my friends convinced me otherwise, and without much protest, I obliged. I blame that lack of concern on the beer!

So off we went to a fugu restaurant that ONLY cooks fugu. It’s farm-raised fugu, and I was told the poison sac wouldn’t be as venomous as in wild fugu.  Whew! That felt so much more comforting! I was also told that the antidote was kept at the restaurant just incase the chef had an off day! Great! Just what i wanted to hear!

Despite some initial reservations, I have to say, that the whole meal was probably one of the best meals I’ve EVER had! The restaurant was lovely – exactly what I pictured a traditional Japanese restaurant to look like. We were seated at a traditional booth, with shoji screens for privacy. We took off our shoes and crawled in.  Without any time to ease into the experience, we were immediately served warm sake with a fried fugu tail infused into the sake.  I must say it was delicious! It gave the sake a roasted aroma, which was exactly what we needed, given the dropping temperatures outside.

The fugu sashimi course arrived. It looked like glass noodles. And it had a similar texture as well. There was no particular taste to it, but the texture was really what was appealing.  This was followed by the steamboat course, where you cooked raw fugu (still hopping on your plate! I kid you not). Vegetables were added as well, and after a minute or two, the fugu was ready to eat. The hot steaming bowls of broth and fugu were delectable and I finally understood why people took such great risks to try this fish. And finally, once all the fish was consumed, cooked rice was added to the remaining broth.  This porridge was then eaten with a splash of soy sauce.  The flavors were amazing and it strangely felt so comforting.

By now, the beer and sake were beginning to wear off.  Expecting to feel mortified of what I had just consumed, I was surprised to feel completely satisfied.

In the end, I was so thankful my friends had convinced me to try fugu, but perhaps slightly more thankful to be alive to talk about it today!

I’ve been told that as a child I went through a phase of only eating food that was colored blue. I can only imagine how difficult that must have been for my parents. Well, as luck would have it, I’ve now been blessed with an equally “selective” eater, who thinks of food as nothing but a nuisance.  I’ve tried so many different things ad nauseum to get him to eat, but I didn’t realize that my answer was waiting for me in Japan.

While on my Kit Kat mission in Japan, I came across these unusual pre-packaged square sandwiches, with the crusts cut off and the sides pressed. You couldn’t tell what was IN the sandwich, and since I don’t read Japanese, each time we bought one we were in for a (mostly good) surprise. My “selective” 4 year old was equally enthralled each time we got one and was eager to take a bite to reveal the filling. We were shocked at how enthusiastic he was about….food ! Well, I just had to find this little gadget so I could make these at home.

So mission no. 2 in Japan was born.  I figured the gadget HAD to exist, especially in Japan, where there seems to be a gadget for just about anything. I asked the incredibly friendly convenience store attendants and although everyone at the shop tried to explain it to me it somehow got lost in translation. I spent days looking for the gadget at 100 Yen Shops (basically the Dollar Store) and almost every large department store I could find, but no luck.

I finally asked a few of my high school friends living in Tokyo and they suggested that the one place it was most likely to be, if it even existed at all, was a store called LOFT. So off I went, cranky 4 yr old in tow, having very low expectations, and there it was -  an entire WALL dedicated to pressed sandwiches! I was beyond thrilled – my son wasn’t going to starve any more.  Admittedly I went a little crazy with the sandwich cutters, the bento boxes, the rice shapers, and the egg shapers (yes, little molds that shaped your hard boiled egg into a race car or a fish – another hit with my son).

So to honor Japan for saving my son from starvation we now have bento lunches filled with pressed sandwiches and race car-shaped eggs at home. It’s really amazing what we can achieve with a little imagination and fun.

Clockwise from upper left - Marron (Chestnut), Okinawa Brown Sugar with Soy Powder, Dark Chocolate, Coke and Lime Squash, Sakura Flavored Green Tea, and Bitter Almond (in the center)

I’m particularly drawn to the unusual, but this doesn’t really apply when it comes to food, or in particular, chocolate.  Several months ago, I happened to listen to NPR’s Morning Edition about the outrageous flavors of kit kats in Japan. That segment gave “unusual”, especially as it pertains to food, a whole new meaning for me. They talked about wasabi-flavored Kit Kats and soy sauce-flavored Kit Kats, flavors you wouldn’t normally associate with chocolate! I was intrigued!

Here in the States, we have the regular Kit Kats, chunky Kit Kats, and I think I’ve even seen white chocolate Kit Kats on occasion.  Of course we have variations on these in various sizes but I believe that’s about it as far as Kit Kats go over here.

So I knew what I had to do when we got to Japan: I was on a mission, to try to find the weirdest chocolate Kit Kats out there – and eat them!.   I didn’t have to look far. Every “combini” or convenience store has them.  In fact, what I had learnt from NPR was that in order to differentiate one convenience store from another, each tries to sell a more unusual Kit Kat to attract customers.  Within a 1 mile radius of our hotel I was able to find the following flavors – “Sakura-flavored Green Tea”, “Coke and Lime Squash”, “Bitter Almond”, “Dark Chocolate”, “Marron” (chestnut) and “Okinawa Brown Sugar with Soy Powder” Kit Kats!  The verdict – as one would expect, the dark chocolate and bitter almond Kit Kats were outstanding! The “marron”, green tea and Okinawa brown sugar (similar to molasses) were pretty good, and the Coke and Lime Squash Kit Kat was downright appalling.

In the end I’m glad I tried them all, but for me, it just reinforced the idea that if it doesn’t sound appealing, it probably isn’t – especially when it comes to my sacred dessert!